Autumn's Worst Enemy
by AutumnHatersUnite
Summary: Takes place after the events of "Flip-flops and Spring Floral". You and Mia form an alliance with an old foe from Autumn's past. But if Wes finds out, your relationship could be shattered.
1. Psychobabble Loser

As I waited in front of Payton's house to pick her up for our morning carpool, I sipped my morning latte.

"So Wes asked you to Prom?" Mia asked.

"Yes," I replied. "It wasn't what he planned at first, but it was still sweet." I smiled to myself.

"Hmm, what's up with Payton?" I mused. "Normally, she's not _this_ late…"

"I'll try calling her again," Mia replied.

"No, wait—the door just opened," I announced.

But Payton wasn't alone. With her… was _Autumn_.

Payton walked up to the car. I rolled my window down.

"Hey Payton, what's up?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Autumn slept over at my house last night," Payton began. I noticed that Autumn's eyes were red and that there were bags under her eyes, like she hadn't slept at all. _Eww_, I thought.

"It turns out, she's been going through a lot and you guys have been meanies to her," Payton frowned. Usually, we would totally rag into people that used that type of infantile language, but Payton was an exception.

"Oh dear," I tilted my head, seemingly apologetic. "We were just trying to make conversation with her. I didn't know that she would overreact like that." I widened my eyes in innocence. Of course, Payton would buy it. As much as I loved the girl, she was much too naïve and trusting for her own good.

"Okay!" Payton chirped. "But Autumn's feeling under the weather, so I said she could ride with us today! Come on, Autumn!"

_Dammit_, I thought. _Someone shoot me now._

Mia took one look at my face and handed me the rest of her frappe.

"Here," she announced. "I know you normally don't consume carbs, but I think this qualifies as an emergency. There's even caramel on the whipped cream."

"Thanks," I sighed. Even the sudden sugar rush couldn't halt my feelings of annoyance. Why did Autumn try so hard to get in with us? It's not like we even had anything in common. We were into Louboutins, and she was into ratty sneakers. And every single time she hung out with us, it would turn into a whine-fest. No one except for Payton, who was nice to literally _everyone_, even wanted her around.

Payton opened the back door of my car.

"Here Autumn, you can go first," she decreed to Autumn and beamed.

A white ballet flat stepped into the interior of my Mercedes and set a thick layer of mud into the plush carpeting.

"Autumn," I muttered in a seemingly polite tone that was actually condescending underneath. "I just got my car cleaned."

"Oh!" Autumn tried to lift her large foot, but made it even worse by raking a trail of crusty mud on the plush seats.

_Fuck._

"Don't worry!" Payton trilled. "I'll go get some paper towels and we can get this whole mess cleaned up in no time." And with that, she left for her house. Fuck, we were gonna be late. _No thanks to Autumn_, I thought angrily.

"Hey guys," Autumn croaked.

Mia and I ignored her.

"Hey, did you see the new limited-edition Kate Collins purse in _Vogue_?" Mia asked me.

"I did. It was _totes_ gorgeous," I replied, taking a sip of my frappe.

"Um, guys?" Autumn asked.

"Mia, did you hear something?" I inquired.

"Hmm," Mia craned her head. "I think I hear a psychopathic loser attempting to speak." I snickered.

Autumn tapped me on the shoulder.

"HELLO? ANSWER ME!" Autumn yelled.

Just then, Payton returned to the car.

"Autumn? Why are you yelling?" she questioned.

She pointed at us. "Mia called me a psychobabble loser!" Her brown eyes started to fill with tears.

_Goddamn, like if this was a drinking game and I had to take a shot every time Autumn cried or whined, I'd be dead from alcohol poisoning by now._

"Autumn, please don't cry!" Payton exclaimed.

"I don't know what's up with Autumn," Mia remarked. "We were just talking about Kate Collins when she started yelling at us." She contorted her features to produce a look of utter bafflement.

"Ooh, I love Kate Collins!" Payton gushed. "Her purses are totally to die for!"

"Payton. The tissues," I demanded, stretching my arm out to get them.

"Oh, here!" Payton handed them to me.

While Payton was preoccupied with her phone (most likely from texting Ezra), I threw the paper towel roll Payton gave me at Autumn's head.

"Oww!" Autumn squealed.

"Chill, it's a freaking paper towel roll," I hissed. "Not a chainsaw. And clean up the mess _you_ made in my car."

Autumn bowed her head down and got to work scrubbing the mess that _she_ had made in my car.

_Me: I s2g, if I'm late bc of this Autumn will be sorry._

_Mia: Why does Payton have to love her so much?_

_Me: I have no clue. Did you hear that JULIAN asked her to prom?_

_Mia: WTF? And how did you know that? It's not even first period yet!_

_Me: Oh, I always stay on top of things. It's my job after all._

_Mia: You know it!_

Payton got in and Mia and I put our phones away. I started to leave Payton's neighborhood when—

"AAH! My head!" Autumn yelped. She was still cleaning the mud off my carpeting and she hadn't even taken a seat yet.

"Sorry," I crooned. "You really need to watch where you're going."

"Yeah," Mia agreed. "You could seriously hurt yourself if you keep doing what you're doing."

The double meaning of our words was not lost on Autumn when her brown eyes widened in realization. She scrunched up in the seat that she was sitting in and didn't say a word for the rest of the car ride.

Payton and Mia kept up a constant chatter on prom, this weekend's house party, and the latest fashions in _Vogue_ while I deliberated my next move. Thinking for a while, I realized that Autumn was rather hesitant about talking about her old school.

_I guess it's time to pay a visit to Twin Branches High_, I thought.


	2. Cobra Smile

After school, Mia and I drove over to my house to prepare for our mission. I lived alone (if you don't count the staff) in one of my family's many estates as both of my parents were preoccupied elsewhere in various corners of the world. Parking my Mercedes in the five-car garage, I extracted the keys from the ignition, locked the car, and punched in the security code to let ourselves in.

Mia and I walked in the east wing, past the parlor, family room, large dining room, library, office, small dining room, and finally the kitchen, where I opened the Meneghini fridge and pulled out two chilled Pellegrinos and a bowl of freshly washed strawberries for us. We left the kitchen and then headed upstairs to my personal office. The room was decorated in shades of pink with hickory brown wall paneling. I went to my desk and powered up my laptop. Mia sat down in the matching Chippendale chair opposite from my desk.

I went to Faceplace, the popular social networking site that I knew many Twin Branches students used. I logged in and did a search for "Autumn Brooks". A picture of a girl with brown hair like an Afghan hound, quirked-up eyebrows, and brown eyes behind black square-framed glasses glanced at the camera like she expected something from it. _So this is what Kimi was talking about when she mentioned that Autumn without glasses was a good look for her_, I realized.

"Mia, come check this out," I snickered. "Autumn was a thousand times uglier her freshman year."

"Really? I find that hard to believe," Mia began. Then she saw Autumn's picture. "I take that back." Her eyes grew wide. "Are those _Poindexter _glasses? Ew. Those are so beyond last season, it's not even funny."

I smirked. "It's really no surprise." Focusing back on the task at hand, I clicked on Autumn's "Friends" box. I noted that her "Best Friends" on Faceplace were this guy named Nick Brown, who seemed to be a hipster type like her, and… Wes. I seethed inwardly. It seemed like no matter what I did, Autumn and Wes's past relationship was constantly being shoved down my throat. Pissed, I forced myself to concentrate on my task yet again. I scrolled down her profile until I reached the posts dating to the 2012-2013 school year. Since Autumn was a sophomore now, whatever that had happened at Twin Branches _had_ to have happened last year. I clicked past pseudo-hipster pictures of yearbooks and kittens until I noticed that some Twin Branches cheerleaders had posted things on Autumn's Faceplace. _"So glad I'm in the art showcase, Maria's gonna be so jealous of the hot college guy I hooked up with! :)" _a post read. I clicked on the comments. A red-haired cheerleader named Nicole Blackwell had commented "Lindsay's kinda upset that you didn't include her…" _Interesting. _I searched in Autumn's Faceplace friends for "Lindsay" and "no matches found" appeared on the screen. On a site like Faceplace, everyone was friends with everyone from school, even if you didn't know them that well. If you weren't, it meant that you had either a bad breakup with them… or you were enemies.

Now I had a name. _Let's see if this Lindsay girl can shed any light on the matter_, I mused.

"Let's go," I announced to Mia. "If we hurry, we can catch her at her cheerleading practice."

Mia and I drove over to Twin Branches in my father's Bentley. I didn't take my car since I didn't want Wes, who I suspected still kept tabs on his former school, to find out that I had been there. A good detective always covers her tracks, after all.

I parked in front of a yellow building that had the words "GO SQUIRRELS" emblazoned in green on it. Quickly, Mia and I left the car and locked it. I opened the blueprints of Twin Branches that I had on my phone (I have blueprints of all the schools in the surrounding area from the county's website. You never know when you have to prank a rival school, gather intel on an enemy… or find someone) and followed the path to the gymnasium. I had already deliberated my cover story on the drive over here. I then closed the app and placed my phone in my Hermès bag. No need to raise suspicion…

"Ready?" I looked at Mia, the corner of my mouth in a sideways smirk.

"Let's go," she replied. I pushed open the gym's double doors and surreptitiously took a seat on the bleachers.

"Alright, recruits! You may have heard that cheerleading at Twin Branches is a thing of the past! That the cheer squad is history!" A girl with light brown hair, olive skin, and light brown eyes snarled. "There was a time when this was true… when players took to the field without spirit, when our victories were met with deafening silence!" _There's an oxymoron right there_, I distractedly mused to myself. She continued on. "There has been no joy at Twin Branches! But that's all about to change!"

Then her serious, angry expression morphed into a smile. "Isn't that right, Paige?" She grinned at a slender girl with long, dark brown hair that covered one of her brown eyes.

While the girl—who I assumed to be the head cheerleader—prattled on, I took the opportunity to observe the room. There was a slew of what appeared to be freshmen, judging by the naïve awkwardness and hopefulness embedded in their expressions. I noted that one girl, a tan, slender, blue-eyed girl with thick honey-blonde hair was in a cheerleading uniform. She had a smug air of superiority to her, and I could guess that she expected to replace the current head cheerleader after she graduated.

I nudged Mia. "That's who we need to talk to," I whispered. Mia nodded in response.

We waited until the head cheerleader finished talking and began watching a freshman's tryout routine. Mia and I then causally walked up to the blonde girl. Even if she wasn't Lindsay, she would probably know where Lindsay was.

"Hi, we're interns for Amy Astley," I began. I had a feeling, just from looking at her, that she was one of those über-pretentious girls who wouldn't give you the time of day unless you could offer her one or all of the three F's: _F_ame, _F_ortune, and _F_ashion. "We've been scouting the schools around the area, searching for 'real-life' teen models for a future shoot we have planned."

The blonde girl examined Mia and I, noting my black Hervé Léger dress, Cartier watch, and coordinating Giuseppe Zanotti heels and Mia's white Rodarte dress, black bomber Elizabeth and James jacket, and Jimmy Choo heels. She gave us a nod. I continued.

"We feel that you have the look a select publication like ours requires for our models," I started, twisting my tone to sound both elite and discerning yet welcoming with promises of rewards of the epicurean variety.

Mia looked the blonde girl dead in the eye. "I suggest we see if you are _worthy_ of this position elsewhere." She eyed the sweaty, struggling freshmen in the center of the room with disdain. "We have a table at Chez Coeur and we are willing to discuss it there." She raised an eyebrow at the blonde girl. "Will you be joining us?"

_Wait for it… three… two… one… go._ I rolled my shoulders back and Mia and I began to depart the gymnasium, which was now blaring an eardrum-shattering hip-hop song as the freshmen nervously followed the head cheerleader in a dance routine. I refrained from snickering at them with moderate difficulty. As we left the gym, I knew that the blonde girl would be following us. And I was right. Her weakness was her vanity. She was a slave to it and she could not control her desire to be _pretty_.

While I was able to take pride in my appearance at times, I could always see my faults, always present in the periphery of my mind. I was all too aware of them. They were the deceptions of my life that coated my soul under a seemingly indestructible layer of human flesh, my metaphorical bubble-wrap. I was aware, and I could conceal them while so many of my rivals could not. I had learned after messing up to the point where it wasn't even an option anymore.

I snapped out of my thoughts and unlocked the Bentley. Mia rode shotgun (of course), and the blonde girl sat in the back. Luck had been on my side as she wasn't aware of traditional model booking protocol and she had fallen for the ruse, just like a ravenous fish at the end of a hook.

Mia turned around so that she was facing the blonde girl. She acted like she was typing notes into her iPhone. "What is your name?"

"Lindsay Vale," she replied, her blue eyes sparkling with what I read as maliciousness, apathy, blind conceit… and typical _Jersey Shore_-cast level stupidity. She might have a few tricks up her sleeve, but due to her emotions, she was bound to get caught.

_Target acquired._

"Lindsay Vale," I began. "That name sounds familiar." I pretended to ponder the thought as I backed out of my parking space.

I knew I had to bring up the topic of Autumn, but I had to do so in a way that wouldn't ruffle her. If I did so, it was _game over_.

I straightened my thoughts out, focusing on my goals and intentions. Then, in a second, the solution came to me.

"Lindsay," I started. "To see if you have the right essence that our models require, we will require you to answer some questions." Our subterfuge wasn't over just yet.

"Take notes," I directed Mia, being careful not to mention our names.

"Question one," I mused. "What has been the greatest setback of your life?"

I could see her hesitation, the wheels in her head turning as she pondered whether or not to divulge the answer. I gave her seven more seconds, counting silently in my head, before I spoke again.

"This is the one time in your life where honesty will be the best policy," I insinuated.

"I… I guess when I lost out on an internship last summer," Lindsay admitted.

"Care to elaborate?" I replied, making it pretty blatant that she didn't have a choice.

"I was competing for an internship with Nikolai Tyrell. I had pai— I mean, taken some excellent photos of nature, and was going to win." Her eyes flashed with fury. "Then that hipster loser, Autumn, came out of nowhere and snatched the internship right out of my hands."

"I see," I continued, mulling this piece of information over. "Would you consider this Autumn person to be your greatest deterrent?"'

"Yes," Lindsay snapped angrily. "She also took photos of me that made me look like the joke of the whole school. Even worse, when I tried to make her pay, she sicced her goody-goody friend Zoe on me and got me suspended."

A suspicious look came over her face. "Why do you need to know this?" Lindsay asked.

I didn't answer her until I had reached a corner of a gas station parking lot. I parked the car and turned to face the vindictive cheerleader.

I removed my Versace sunglasses.

"Lindsay, we're not actually recruiters for _Teen Vogue_." I gave one of my smiles, the kind my enemies likened to a hissing cobra about to strike. "We're from Autumn's new school."

Lindsay's eyes widened in shock.

"And we are sick of her ruining our school for us," Mia added. "We figured that others from her former school would feel the same way."

"So, the question is… will you join us?" I flashed my cobra smile at her again.


	3. Not Even Ironically Cool

_**Friday**_

"I can't wait for your party!" a prep girl squealed. "I know it's going to be great!"

"Will you have Chanel goody bags again? Is that the surprise?" a yacht club girl inquired, her eyes dancing excitedly.

The talk around school was that I was throwing a major house party this weekend… and there was going to be a huge surprise during the party. My coterie had kept up with a barrage of never-ending questions, but I wouldn't divulge a single detail.

I smirked to myself. The only people that knew what the surprise actually was were Mia, Lindsay, and myself. But everyone would enjoy the big reveal… everyone, that is, except for Autumn.

Payton, Mia, and I took our usual seats at the center lunch table: Payton on my left, Mia on my right, and myself in the center. Preps, cheerleaders, yacht club girls, and many more joined us, filling the surrounding seats. I took a sip of my lemon-and-cucumber infused spa water and watched as Autumn entered the cafeteria.

Three feet in, a class clown guy stuck out his foot. Autumn, her head in the clouds, probably daydreaming about _my_ boyfriend or Julian, was oblivious.

The cafeteria roared with laughter as Autumn tripped over his outstretched foot, landing face-first into a pile of rotten mashed potatoes that the guys had been throwing around trying to prompt a food fight.

At the same table, the class clown girl next to him, who did our school's morning announcements, had caught it all on tape.

"This is gonna bring some laughs to tomorrow's morning news!" she chortled.

The class clown guy continued his routine. "Hey, Autumn," he began. "Want a hand?" He struck his hand out to her.

Autumn took it, then suddenly screeched as her body was met with a small electric shock. Everyone covered their ears, then laughed. The class clown guy had placed a hand buzzer in his palm.

"Okay, Imma stop joking now. Autumn, you need a hand up?" He had a sincere, angelic expression on his face.

Autumn sighed, then gingerly reached out and met his hand. _Buzz! _Autumn screamed again, falling back to the hard cafeteria floor. He had re-activated the hand buzzer.

Everyone laughed even harder. Mia turned to me, tears in her eyes. I was on the verge of crying from laughter myself. Thank Gucci I had worn waterproof mascara today!

Autumn, scowling, tried to get up herself. Her right hand collided with the mound of sticky mashed potatoes she had fallen face-first in. She gritted her teeth, slowly standing up.

Meanwhile, the class clown guy had sat down, turning his back on Autumn as he conversed with his friends.

Autumn tapped him on the shoulder, hard. The class clown guy ignored her. Autumn kept tapping away, her hands forming into C-shaped claws.

Finally, the class clown guy turned around. "What the hell do you want?"

He wasn't prepared for what would happen next. No one in the cafeteria was.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Autumn shrieked.

Hurriedly, everyone in the cafeteria rushed to cover their ears. Autumn Brooks had a voice that could—and would—shatter glass.

The class clown guy pulled his hands away from his ears. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm gonna go back to eating my lunch. Stay away from me, psycho." And with that, he turned away from Autumn.

His friends snickered, clapping him on the back. Autumn scowled, stomping her foot like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.

Her eyes roved the cafeteria, looking for a place to sit. The first place her eyes went to was my table. The coveted center table, where everyone was attractive, impeccably dressed, and having a good time.

We pretended not to notice that the art freak was staring at us, laughing uproariously to rub it in that we were having the time of our lives… and she wasn't.

Autumn sighed, looking away. I watched as she scanned the tables filled with cliques. Who in this school didn't hate her? The skaters? Nope. The musicians? No dice. The gamers? No way.

What about her actual clique, the hipsters? Autumn started to walk over to them, but a withering glare from a hipster guy made her stop.

"Girl, those sneakers are so uncool, they're not even ironically cool!"

Autumn turned away from them, tears forming in her squinty brown eyes. She quickened her pace until she had reached the infamous table known as No-Man's-Land. No, not the WWI trenches. The single café table that was one-sided, so it could only fit a single person. Across from the café table was a large green dumpster, filled to the brim with all the rotting trash that had been collected from the cafeteria this week. Due to its smell, and its proximity to the the entrance the teachers liked to use (_what _teachers, though? The only teacher who'd ever come into the cafeteria was Professor Edwin, and she didn't even teach at this school. She just liked to check up on my school to be a bitch.) no one desired to sit there.

Mia snickered as Autumn slid into the lone seat at No-Man's-Land.

"I feel so bad! Should we invite her to sit with us?" Payton cried.

The answer to that was an unanimous chorus of _No_'s.

"Sorry, Payton. The majority says no. Gotta do what the people want, right?" I gave my "Honor Roll student" smile.

Payton nodded. Little did she know, I was the one who _really _controlled the majority. The girls just parroted what I said in conversations when Payton wasn't present.

Suddenly, the cafeteria quieted. I scanned the room, searching for the source of the sudden silence. Why hadn't my friends said anything?

I felt a chill go down my spine when I saw No-Man's-Land.

Wes had scooted into Autumn's seat, a snug fit since it was meant for only one person. And Autumn had began sobbing into his gray sweatshirt for all she was worth, clinging to him like he was Adam and she was Eve and they were the only two humans on the planet.

I dug my Dolce &amp; Gabbana Iris manicured nails into the side of my wrist just above my Tiffany tennis bracelet and Juicy Couture charm bracelet.

This time, a miniscule amount of blood seeped out. Shit!

I pulled myself out of my feelings and concentrated on the task at hand. From my pink-and-black Chanel tweed bag I extracted my TracFone and conducted a text to Lindsay.

_Me: It's on Friday. Don't forget the video._

As I've always said, don't get mad... get even. During my party, Autumn Brooks was in for a surprise... one more shocking than the prank the class clown guy had pulled on her today.


	4. Smurfette

_** Saturday**_

_**The night of the party**_

I appraised my reflection in the full-length mirror in my walk-in closet. My hair was set in a trendy loose chignon by my hairstylist, Jacqui, and I was wearing a new ivory Prada minidress I'd bought for the occasion. My left wrist sported my Ballon Blanc du Cartier watch, and on my right wrist were my Tiffany tennis bracelets and the Juicy Couture charm bracelet that I always wore. My fingernails and toenails were mani'd and pedi'd to perfection and painted with Gucci's Pink Lotus.

But the crowning glory of my outfit was, naturally, my shoes. My nude-colored Sergio Rossi Vague Mermaid platforms—my latest shoe purchase—stood in my shoe display case. I liked to plan out my outfits the week before, so in my closet, I had designated one of the islands for placing the next outfit I would wear. The platforms were the only thing left on the island.

But before I could slip them on, I was interrupted by a phone call.

_Payton_ flashed on my iPhone's screen.

"Hey girl, what's up?" I inquired.

"I'm on my way right now!" Payton squealed. I could hear the grin in her voice, the grin that only came out when she was either going to a party, saw a cute baby animal, or someone bought her a peppermint latte.

My sensitive ears caught the sound of another person in the car.

"Payton, is Mia with you?" I asked. Mia was due to arrive at my place any minute. Maybe she'd hitched a ride with Payton, although she had her own car.

Payton giggled. "No, Mia has her own car! Autumn doesn't, so she needed a ride tonight!"

A chill went down my spine. We always threw parties every weekend, and unless Payton was in charge of the guest list, Autumn was never invited. That didn't stop Autumn, though. She spent most of her Friday nights alone in her bedroom, but if she felt like hitting on our boyfriends, she'd crash our party.

However, I knew how to make her leave… either by getting her thrown out bouncer-style, or setting up a few "mishaps" to happen that would make her run from the party in tears. I snickered as I recalled a prank we'd pulled that involved a nasty-tasting cake and food coloring. Autumn's face and arms were blue for nearly a whole month, and our classmates had called her "Smurfette" for even longer.

Tonight would be different. This time, Autumn's presence was desired… because she was going to get a surprise that would top all the others she'd received this year.

And with Lindsay joining us, she'd be regretting the day she'd laid her eyes on my boyfriend, made Mia lose out on a limited-edition Kate Collins handbag, and got Lindsay suspended.


	5. Thirsty Much?

"Surprise!" I announced, posing like I'd just jumped out of a cake. "Our school is having a joint party with Twin Branches!"

Payton squealed. "I can't wait to meet all of Kimi and Owen's friends!"

Autumn's face turned white as she picked at her cuticles. _Gross._ That girl was already in desperate need of a manicure, and she just made her unkempt nails ten times grosser.

Mia gave Autumn a sickly-sweet smile. "You'll enjoy being with your old friends, won't you?"

"Y-yeah," Autumn lied. She looked like she was going to throw up. I was torn between laughing and worrying about her puke getting on my carpet.

I went behind the stainless-steel island, extracting a few bottles from the Meneghini fridge. "Let's pregame, ladies!"

Mia grabbed some Tiffany crystal cups from a cupboard—she'd been to my house enough times that she knew where everything was located—and started pouring glasses for the four of us.

I gave a wicked smile. "I think we should kick off tonight with a fun little game before the party starts."

"Seconded." Mia nodded.

"Thirded!" Payton chirped.

"Payton, 'thirded' isn't even a word," Mia chided her.

Autumn's face turned red. "Uh, no thanks," she whimpered.

I giggled, twisting an errant strand of my glossy brown hair. "Why? Are you _scared_, Autumn?"

Mia laughed. Even Payton giggled.

"N-no," Autumn cried. Then her expression changed as her pale, nervous expression quickly morphed into an angry, violent one. "Bring it on." Her squinty eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms.

But there was something off tonight. The usual air of haughtiness and anger that emanated off her was tinged with a little hesitation—and something else. _Fear_.

I could read people like a book. Autumn was already scared about the possibility of a certain honey-haired cheerleader turning up at my party tonight, and she was thrown off her game. And the _party_ hadn't even started yet…

I lead them to the living room. Everyone set their glasses and bottles down on the Giorgetti table. Mia, Payton, and Autumn looked at me, none of them daring to say a word until I spoke.

I smiled. "We're going to play a classic, 'Never Have I Ever.' Mia, you start."

Mia tapped her Michael Kors watch, thinking for a split second. "Never have I ever… had a crush on Julian."

Payton giggled, taking a sip.

Autumn flushed, her face turning scarlet red as she hesitantly brought her Tiffany cup to her lips, taking what seemed to be the world's tiniest sip. She obviously didn't want to be drinking...

She set her glass down, crossing her arms and looking at me. "Aren't _you_ going to take a sip?"

I laughed, the silk fabric of my Prada minidress shimmering as I moved. "I never liked Julian, Ratty."

Autumn started to become enraged, her brown eyes narrowing as if she was internally placing a curse on me.

Mia reached out pretended to tap her on the arm, consolingly. "Relax. Just take a sip, and calm yourself. We're your best friends."

I bit down on my lip to prevent the snicker from escaping my DiorKiss-glossed lips. Autumn wanted nothing more than to get in with us, and using the 'best friends' line always worked when we wanted her to do something. Pathetic. She really should know better than that… she would _never_ be one of us.

Autumn took a slightly larger sip, then set the glass down.

"Now that that's settled," I started, acting like it was a small game of tennis at the country club instead of the start of a fight, "it's your turn, Payton."

"Ooh!" Payton grinned. "Never have I gone a whole week without a peppermint latte!"

Mia and I giggled, taking sips. Autumn, sighing, took another as well.

"My turn," Autumn interrupted. "Never have I ever wore designer clothes." She smirked, knowing that we all had to sip.

"That's so obvious, Autumn," I snickered. Mia laughed.

After I put my glass down, I spoke. "Never have I ever… pissed off a cheerleader."

Autumn's face went white once again, her teeth beginning to chatter.

"That's easy!" Payton chirped. "Kara." She took a sip. Mia, a little hesitantly, took a sip as well.

Autumn raised her glass, taking another sip… but this time, she set it down a second longer than necessary.

Everyone in the room, with the exception of Payton, knew that the cheerleader Autumn was thinking about _wasn't _Kara. A few more rounds, and she'd definitely be off her game tonight. I caught Mia's eye, and she nodded.

"Autumn, do you want some juice?" She gave the hipster loser her heart-wrenching "All-American cheerleader" smile.

"S-sure," Autumn trembled. She was still shaken from being reminded of the memories with Lindsay, I could tell.

Mia went off to get the juice, returning with a crystal glass full of what looked like Hawaiian Punch. She handed it to Autumn with a sweet smile.

"Thanks," Autumn replied, taking a long sip.

Mia and I surreptitiously exchanged a glance, smirking. What Autumn didn't know was that the "juice" wasn't just any juice, it was jungle juice.

"Now, where were we?" Mia asked. "Never have I ever… had something I loved smashed and destroyed."

Payton started to take a sip, but I held my hand out. "Broken hearts don't count, Payton. We're talking actual, physical things."

For a second, it looked like Autumn's squinty brown eyes were going to fill up with tears. Then she took a sip.

For the next half hour, we played, Mia and I asking subtly pointed questions. The longer the game went on, the more Autumn sipped from her crystal glass—until it was totally drained. I eyed her glass of juice, noticing it was empty as well. Looks like _someone's_ thirsty… and it better not be for my boyfriend.


End file.
